Charlie Chalk
Created byIvor Wood
Written byJocelyn Stevenson
Directed byDerek Mogford
StarringMichael Williams
John Wells
Barbara Leigh-Hunt
Opening theme"Charlie Chalk" sung by Ken Barrie
Ending theme"Charlie Chalk (Different Version)" sung by Ken Barrie
ComposerMike Redway
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes13
Production
ProducerIvor Wood
EditorMartin Bohan
Running time15 minutes per episode (approx)
Production companyWoodland Animations
Original release
NetworkBBC1
Release20 October 1988 (1988-10-20) –
19 April 1989 (1989-04-19)

Charlie Chalk is a British stop motion animation series produced in 1987 in the United Kingdom by Woodland Animations, who also produced the children's television programmes Postman Pat, Gran, and Bertha. Reception to the show was mostly positive. The series began airing from 20 October 1988, Thursday afternoons on BBC1 part of Children's BBC for the first 10 episodes. The remaining three episodes of the series aired on BBC2 in a lunchtime slot.

The series is available to watch on BritBox and Prime Video.

Synopsis

The series tells the story of Charlie Chalk – a jolly clown who, after falling asleep whilst fishing out at sea, ends up on a strange island by the name of Merrytwit (as explained in the title sequence before each episode). Characters had to be aware of coconuts which constantly fell from the trees on the island.

The pilot episode of the series (entitled 'Shipwrecked Charlie') finds Charlie having just landed on Merrytwit, and after making friends with some of its inhabitants, decides to stay and build a home there. The following episodes follow Charlie and his new friends on various adventures on the island.

Main characters

who spends his time sleeping and has quite a dislike for work.

Episodes

The series consisted of 13 original episodes, as listed below:

# Title Summary Broadcast Date
1 Shipwrecked Charlie Charlie Chalk lands on Merrytwit and meets Edward, Trader Jones, Captain Mildred, Arnold and Lewis T. Duck. They all agree that the first thing Charlie must do is build a house but choosing the best location proves difficult. 20 October 1988[1]
2 Arnold's Night Out Charlie finds a treasure map and he, Lewis and Arnold decide to go looking for the treasure but become confused and fall out with each other. Arnold ends up finding the treasure after walking through the night. 27 October 1988[2]
3 The Coconut Harvest In the middle of the coconut harvest, Trader Jones makes a wish and, before anyone knows what has happened, Mary the Hover Fairy appears. She grants Trader's wish but he discovers that the magic may not be the best way to harvest coconuts. 3 November 1988[3]
4 The Sneezes Charlie unfortunately has to cancel the big expedition to find the Bye Bye Beast because he has got the sneezes. But when Trader Jones' cure for the dread disease happens to include the elusive Beast's favourite food, Charlie's luck changes. 10 November 1988[4]
5 Jumping Bananas Litterbug, on his constant quest for tidiness, picks up Mary the Hover Fairy's wand when she puts it down halfway through a spell. When the poor creature is chased by a crowd of jumping bananas, he finds out that there could be such a thing as being too tidy. 17 November 1988[5]
6 The Mountain That Moaned One day Arnold claims that the mountain moaned and no one believes him. So Charlie and Lewis decide to set off and see why the mountain moans. The mountain leads them to a new friend, Bert. 24 November 1988[6]
7 Edward Keeps Fit It is inspection day on Merrytwit and Captain Mildred decides it is time lazy Edward took some exercise. 1 December 1988[7]
8 The Feast Charlie is helping Trader Jones beach combing when they stumble upon a cookery book. Trader decides to prepare the first Merrytwit feast, but when coconuts and bananas are the only ingredients available, the feast does not quite work out as planned. 8 December 1988[8]
9 There Are No Roads On Merrytwit Lewis T. Duck, who is always right, is dismayed to discover that there are no roads on Merrytwit. So he decides to build one. 15 December 1988

[9]

10 Mildred's Day Off Captain Mildred is becoming bored of her day-to-day life of living on her boat she calls a home, so she decided to take her best friend Mary the Hover Fairy with her on a short holiday to the other side of the island, and decides that who arrives first on her ship will become acting captain. Unfortunately, that happens to be Edward, sleepwalking ... 22 December 1988[10]
11 Bert's Boring Day The cave monster Bert is having a boring day, he has run out of interesting things to do in Merrytwit, but his day soon livens up when his friends plan a day full of fun. 5 April 1989 [11]
12 Return Of The Litter It will soon be Litterbug's birthday; Charlie and the other inhabitants of Merrytwit cannot think of a gift to give Litterbug for his birthday, they decide to explore the island for the perfect gift. 12 April 1989 [12]
13 Goodbye, Hello Although Charlie is enjoying his new life on Merrytwit, he also misses the circus and his old friends back home, so Charlie decides to say goodbye to Merrytwit and his newfound friends and go back to his old life as a clown, but in the end decides to stay on Merrytwit. Clips from previous episodes are shown (although certain moments from "Arnold's Night Out" are re-shot and re-dubbed). 19 April 1989 [13]

Merchandise

UK VHS releases

All 13 episodes were released on three BBC Videos in the UK between 1988 and 1991.

VHS video title Year of release Episodes
Charlie Chalk –
Shipwrecked Charlie
(BBCV 4195) 		3 October 1988
  • "Shipwrecked Charlie"
  • "Arnold's Night Out"
  • "Coconut Harvest"
  • "Sneezes"

  • "Jumping Bananas"
Charlie Chalk –
The Mountain That Moaned
(BBCV 4427) 		5 November 1990
  • "The Mountain That Moaned"
  • "Edward Keeps Fit"
  • "The Feast"

  • "There are No Roads on Merrytwit"
Charlie Chalk –
Mildred's Day Off
(BBCV 4636) 		1 July 1991
  • "Mildred's Day Off"
  • "Bert's Boring Day"
  • "Return of the Litter"
  • "Goodbye Hello"

Then, in 1995, Tempo Video released 9 episodes on VHS.

VHS video title Year of release Episodes
Charlie Chalk – Jumping Bananas (975927) 7 August 1995
  • "Sneezes"
  • "Return of the Litter"
  • "Mildred's Day Off"
  • "The Feast"
  • "Jumping Bananas"
Charlie Chalk – There are No Roads on Merrytwit (978225) 7 August 1995 'There are No Roads on Merrytwit' and 'Edward Keeps Fit'
Charlie Chalk – Coconut Harvest (986725) 7 August 1995 'Coconut Harvest' and 'Goodbye, Hello'

Finally, from 1999 to 2000, Contender Entertainment released 9 episodes on VHS on their "Nippers" label.

VHS video title Year of release Episodes
Charlie Chalk Bumper Video (NIP11063) 1 February 1999
  • "Shipwrecked Charlie"
  • "Arnold's Night Out"
  • "The Coconut Harvest"
  • "Sneezes"
  • "Jumping Bananas"
The Adventures of Charlie Chalk (NIP11085) 7 February 2000
  • "The Mountain That Moaned"
  • "Edward Keeps Fit"
  • "Mildred's Day Off"

  • "Return of The Litter"

Other Merchandise

Broadcast

Voice cast

References

  1. ^ "BBC One London: 20 October 1988 at 15.50".
  2. ^ "BBC One London: 27 October 1988 at 15.50".
  3. ^ "BBC One London: 3 November 1988 at 15.50".
  4. ^ "BBC One London: 10 November 1988 at 15.50".
  5. ^ "BBC One London: 17 November 1988 at 15.50".
  6. ^ "BBC One London: 24 November 1988 at 15.50".
  7. ^ "BBC One London: 1 December 1988 at 15.50".
  8. ^ "BBC One London: 8 December 1988 at 15.50".
  9. ^ "BBC One London: 15 December 1988 at 15.50".
  10. ^ "BBC One London: 22 December 1988 at 15.50".
  11. ^ "BBC Two England: 5 April 1989 at 13.25".
  12. ^ "BBC Two England: 12 April 1989 at 13.25".
  13. ^ "BBC Two England: 19 April 1989 at 13.25".

External links

Categories